


Mine

by fogsblue



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff, One Shot, Possibly humour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-11
Updated: 2017-10-11
Packaged: 2019-01-16 01:16:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12332547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fogsblue/pseuds/fogsblue
Summary: Jack's been blowing stuff up for 20 years, now someone else is taking his job. She manages to knock him off his feet. Literally.(AKA The Sam and Jack work in a mine AU no one ever asked for. )





	Mine

**Author's Note:**

> Can't remember where this came from, it's been sitting on my drive for probably a year, almost complete, so, why not post it? Couple of things, again, no beta, I've written next to nothing with Sam and Jack, I'm not American and I'm way out of practice, but hey, maybe someone will enjoy it. (and maybe I can find some motivation to write again...)

Jack returns from a late lunch and takes up his earlier vigil. He glares at the obstacle stopping him from what needs to be done. Rock and dirt, heavily compacted, preventing the team from moving forward. And three days ago it wouldn’t have been a problem. Three days ago and he would have blown it to hell already and they’d be digging into the new vein hidden behind it. Doing their job.

Instead, he narrows his eyes, and he can feel Daniel’s eyes boring into the back of his neck. He ignores his friend, as far as he’s concerned, Daniel’s silence is a tacit approval of his annoyance at the situation.

“Uh, Jack?” Or maybe not.

He sighs, turning away from the rock wall and frowns. “Daniel?”

“You going to stare at that all day?” Daniel asks, “It looks like you’re trying to break through it by willpower alone.” Voice dropping, so Jack can barely hear, he mutters, “Got to be the only person more stubborn than the rocks.”

Jack doesn’t say a word, just turns back to the rock and crosses his arms. Last thing he wants to admit is it’s not the rock wall that’s distracting him.

In his time at the mine, they’ve been through more owners than Jack cares, or can be bothered, to remember. He’s even thankful that a few years ago the latest owner, George Hammond, took over, since the man actually seems to care for his miners. For just over twenty years, since leaving high school, he’s worked the mine. Most locals do, and anyone within a 200 mile radius counts as local. Not like there’s a lot of options out here. But that number includes maybe a couple of hundred people, so everyone knows everyone.

But he doesn’t know the woman, the tall, blonde, hot woman, he’d seen heading into Hammond’s office this morning. And as much as he’d tried to brush the thoughts of her away, he can’t help seeing her confident stride and wondering just who she is, and why she’s there.

And he can’t even blow something up to distract himself.

Work in the mine is regular, they’ve been lucky enough to have rich ore veins running through the Mountain so they’ve never struggled or had to lay people off. And Jack’s good at his job, even made foreman when the last man finally retired. But mining involves long days and repetitive work, so the chance to blow things up is often the highlight of his week.

There’s just something immensely satisfying about watching an obstruction break into small pieces and fly in hundreds of directions. Shame it wasn’t so easy with people.

But two days ago, Hammond had called Jack into the office to explain a few changes, like the new government safety guidelines. That any, and all, detonations had to be arranged and set off by someone with qualifications and a certificate. Apparently years of experience means nothing anymore.

There was a small voice, one that sounded suspiciously like Daniel, telling him that he should be thankful that Hammond cared enough to actually follow the safety regulations. Jack promptly ignored the voice in favour of feeling offended. And just plain upset, he’d lost his favourite part of the job.

Jack shakes his head, Daniel’s voice breaking into his daydreams. “...called outside, Jack.”

Nodding, Jack agrees. “Yeah, outside Daniel, no problem, be there shortly.”

“No more than five minutes Jack,” Daniel says, gathering his tools on the way past. “Not sure what’s happening after that, but it’s probably not good.”

“Yeah, sure. Not good.” Someone’s just going to blow something up. And it’s not him.

Crossing his arms,, Jack turns his scowl back towards the wall. He’d returned from lunch, only left his place for fifteen minutes, unable to listen to anymore speculation about the new explosives guy, Sam Carver or something. Apparently the guy is quick, but maybe not so smart. Sure, during lunch he’d obviously taken advantage of the empty mine to place the explosives. But, counting the blocks of oddly coloured explosive again, Jack thinks this newbie has definitely missed an important lesson. The blocks are all placed correctly, but with only half the number he’d use on an obstruction like this.

He huffs quietly. With so few blocks, there’s barely any point moving back. But even so, he’s not stupid enough to stand quite so close. Walking back towards the entrance, Jack judges the distance at about a hundred feet and stops, turning to watch.

The noise is sharp, sudden, and he can’t hear it, but he feels his breath knocked out of him as he hits the ground. By the time the ringing in his ears stops, he’s lying back on the floor, wondering what just hit him, because he’s sure those explosives can’t be responsible. But maybe it was the body attached to the wide blue eyes and not fully hidden smile above him. And he finally stops admiring that mouth, long enough to realise she’s actually saying something too.

“...okay? You know, if you didn’t want to get knocked over, maybe you should have moved further back.”

“Huh?” Jack asks. He covers his eyes, and mumbles “Yes Jack, great way to impress the pretty face.”

There’s a small laugh, followed by, “Are you okay? Think you can get up?”

He takes the hand offered to him, “I think so.” As he stands, he tries not to notice how that hand feels in his. “What just hit me?”

The woman grins and he has to right not to grin along with her. “Shockwave. Everyone was told to go outside.”

“I checked the site, there’s no way what was there would cause that kind of shockwave, I’d know, I’ve been doing the job for twenty years.” Jack crosses his arms, waiting.

There’s a sigh from her now, and the smile slips away, replaced by something slightly wary. “So you’d be Jack O’Neill then. I was warned you probably wouldn’t be happy to see me.”

“You stole my job! Blowing things up was the best part of my day!”

The comment is met by a raised eyebrow. “The best part?”

Jack nods, “It was, until I was told I wasn’t allowed, and now I’ve been replaced by someone who doesn’t use enough explosives!”

She snorts, and there’s no way he should find that attractive. He does.

“And just who was on the ground, on their ass?” she asks. “That would have been you, so obviously there was more than enough. It’s just not the dynamite you’re probably used to using, which went out of style last century!”

“Hey!” Maybe he still liked a stick of dynamite, there was something fun about lighting a fuse like a cowboy.

She continues as if he never interrupted. “With a few minor adjustments to the chemical balance, you can reduce the materials needed and the reaction creates… Nevermind, it just means bigger explosions.”

“Yeah, I got that bit.” Jack struggles to hold onto his grumpiness, he’d earned it, but when she’s obviously so enthusiastic, about blowing things up, which he always appreciates, grumpy isn’t as easy as normal. “So you’re Sam Carter, the one who stole my job?”

“I didn’t steal, it was offered to me. And it’s Sam,” she says, lips quirking as she tries not to smile. “And, uh, any chance I can have my hand back now?”

He didn’t even realise he was still holding it until Sam told him. Jack decides not to let go.

“On one condition.”

“Oh?”

“Make that two conditions.” The look he’s getting is making it hard not to smirk, some combination of confused and interested, Jack’s sure that’s not a common look for her. She gestures to him to continue. “One, you tell me all about your new explosives.”

Sam looks relieved, “That’s easy, you just need to…”

Jack raises his hand, cuts her off. “No, not now, later. And that brings me to condition two, you agree to have a drink with me. I’ll even forgive you for stealing my job too,” he finishes, with a wink.

There’s a laugh, and she nods and smiles. Jack denies any sort of small flutter, and tries not to think he’s found a new job that might be more fun than blowing things up. Trying to make Sam smile, as often as possible, seems like a full time job he’ll be happy to take on.

~~~~~ ~~~~~

Two years later, Hammond steps down from day to day operations, handing the reins over to Jack, much to his, and no one else’s, surprise. He still misses blowing stuff up, but spends a lot more time trying to make Sam smile and laugh, though, he’s found much better ways than bad jokes and offers for drinks.

His second favourite remains telling his wife she can blow something up.

But he always takes her hand before she runs off. “You can only blow things up if I can watch, Sam.”

She never gets offended, she knows he trusts her, he just enjoys the show. But that doesn’t stop her teasing him, “Want me to knock you off your feet again?”

“Two years, Sam, it’s been two years! Are you ever gonna stop bringing that up?”

  
“Nope!” Sam says with a grin. Jack thinks being teased is probably worth it.


End file.
